| Ustad Atta Mohammad Nur | |
|---|---|
| Atta Mommad Nur speaking in May 2010 | |
| Governor of Balkh, Afghanistan | |
| Incumbent | |
| Assumed office 2004 |
|
| Preceded by | Mohammad Eshaq Rahgozar |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1965 Balkh Province, Afghanistan |
| Political party | Jamiat-e Islami |
| Religion | Islam |
Ustad Atta Mohammed Noor (Persian: استاد عطا محمد نور) is a politician in Afghanistan, serving as the Governor of Balkh Province in the north of country. He was appointed in 2004 by President Hamid Karzai. An ethnic Tajik,[1] he was a high school teacher before the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. A former anti-Soviet mujahideen leader in northern Afghanistan during the Soviet invasion, he later became a commander in the anti-Taliban Northern Alliance in the Balkh area.[2]
Born in Balkh province, Atta Mohammed joined the mujahideen fighting the Soviet presence in Afghanistan in the 1980s[3] and became affiliated with the Jamiat-e Islami party. By 1992, he had become one the most powerful mujahideen commander in Northern Afghanistan.[4]
Following the collapse the fall of Mohammed Najibullah's Democratic Republic of Afghanistan, he joined Abdul Rashid Dostum's National Islamic Movement of Afghanistan, becoming a deputy leader of that movement during its first congress on June 1, 1992.[5] However, ideological differences with Dostum soon re-emerged, and in 1993, encouraged by then defense minister Ahmed Shah Massoud, he formed a new military unit, independent from Dostums movement, and began to recruit former mujahideen commanders.[6] In January 1994, he was preparing an offensive to capture Mazar-i-Sharif, but Dostum struck first, and mobilised 10,000 men to defeat Atta's forces.[7] The setback was such that Atta was unable to play a significant role in the region until 2001.[8]
In late 2001, he was able to rebuild his forces, and with the help of US supplies and funds, his militia rose in two months from several hundred to several thousand men.[9] On November 9, 2001 his forces and those of Dostum drove the Taliban from Mazar-i-Sharif.[10]
In the following years Ustad Atta's forces clashed regularly with those of Dostum. In 2002, with the support of other jamiatis occupying key positions in the Afghan Transitional Administration, he expanded his influence in Northern Afghanistan. While he managed to seize Mazar-i-Sharif with little violence, Khulmi District was taken by force. At the same time, Atta attempted to buy the loyalty of local military commanders in Faryab, Jowzjan and Balkh provinces.[11] In October 2003 Dostum launched a counteroffensive, and managed to retake most of the positions he had lost to Jamiat since 2002. Near Mazar, Dostum outmaneuvred Atta's armoured forces, and captured all the key positions around the city.[12] Fighting around Mazar involved tanks and artillery, and resulted in the death of approximately 60 people.[13] In the summer both Dostum and Atta were coming under increasing pressure from the central government in Kabul, and they worked out a power-sharing agreement: Dostum conceded Mazar and most of Balkh province to Atta, who in turn renounced his intention of contesting Dostum's influence elsewhere in Northern Afghanistan.[14]
In late 2004, Atta was appointed governor of Balkh Province by Hamid Karzai. By installing commanders with whom he had fought in the 1980s and 1990s in local government positions, thus turning them away from destabilizing activities, he created a loyal and disciplined local administration. As a result, he acquired a monopoly on violence, and achieved relative security and stability even in the most remote districts, at the cost of authoritarian methods. The security in Balkh Province permitted significant reconstruction and the development of considerable economic activity.[3]
In 2006 Atta was investigated for corruption by the new Attorney General, Abdul Jabbar Sabit. Atta denied the charges and "accused Sabit of waging a political and personal vendetta".[2] The ethnic Tajik Atta was known for his rivalry with Uzbek general Abdul Rashid Dostum.[15] At the time, Balkh and Mazar were important source areas for Afghanistan's poppies, and commentators have remarked that a major motivation for this infighting may have been Dostum's involvement in the poppy trade.[16] Governor Atta's opium poppy eradication program between 2005 and 2007, advised by consultants from Adam Smith International, successfully reduced poppy cultivation in Balkh Province from 7,200 hectares in 2005 to zero by 2007.[3]
During the 2009 presidential election, he supported Abdullah Abdullah.[17]
| Preceded by Mohammad Eshaq Rahgozar |
Governor of Balkh 2004–Present |
Succeeded by |